People have the right to be skeptical about any new development in Wheaton after twenty years of talk, an art-house theatre that shut down after two months, and fears that it'll become "another Silver Spring." To some, the number of proposed apartments seems too high. But as David Alpert of GGW pointed out on the Kojo Nnamdi Show yesterday, businesses need a critical mass of people to survive. Downtown Wheaton doesn't have the reputation or accessibility to rely on car traffic like it did in the 1950's. There have to be more people in the neighborhood who can walk to local shops.

Generous setbacks from K Street create space for sidewalk dining areas and a lot of landscaping. At the corner, the building cuts away to form a large courtyard, reducing its visual impact on the surroundings (currently a mix of parking lots and considerably shorter buildings). While the sidewalks last weekend were mobbed due to an event before the National Equality March, it felt less crowded than Ellsworth Drive on a Friday night.

And, of course, there's a grocery store as well. The shopping experience at what District residents call the "Sexy Safeway" goes above and beyond what you get in the 1960's-era market at Georgia and Reedie now, from the faux-hardwood floors to the well-stocked produce section. There's even free parking for ninety minutes. It's in an underground garage, but I assume that anyone who patronizes the Safeway on Thayer Avenue would already be used to it.

You and I may not be able to put down $400k on a one-bedroom condominium here. But we can pretend like we can while patronizing businesses unique to D.C. The size may not seem like an obvious fit for Wheaton, but CityVista's celebration of local retailers sounds pretty appropriate for its business district.